Bubbles
by Kuli
Summary: 7 years before the start of the series, Shino and Tenten spend an afternoon together in the forest, easing some of the solitude these two kids feel so often.  A/N: After reading sylar1610's review, I thought about it and I expanded it into a threeshot.
1. Blowing bubbles

**Bubbles**

Author's note: I do not own anything about Naruto. Hopefully this oneshot may suffice as a contestant for Rel's ShinoxTenTen AU contest. This takes place 7 years before the start of Naruto. Shino is 5 years old, Tenten 6.

Bubbles, he enjoyed blowing them into the air, watching as they fly away. Sitting on a rock in the forest, the young black googled Aburame watched their course once again, savoring the moment. The other kids did not like to spend time with him, all because of these rumors about his clan. Solitude was usual for him; some others though spent time with him, but it was rare. Those moments were his freetime alone, he could feel carefree, losing himself a little...; opposed to his developing rational self taught by his clan and an armor against the others.

Sighing he blew once more, enjoying the bubbles on their way towards the horizon. But this afternoon he would not be alone, as a young girl with her brown hair tied in two buns had to practice throwing weapons for the academy.

Despite her strong will and her dawning talent, the others made fun of her poor background, her style and her being among them in the girl's classes. Tenten had enough for today, but it still hurt her. What was wrong about her barely able to remember flowers' meanings but liking to hit targets bull's eye while racing through a forest? Her clothes are just fine for this; a simple pair of black shorts with a brown touch for weapons, a dark red t-shirt with a yellow Konoha sign on the front and a blue pair of sandals. 'This is just not fair! They suck at weapon training and don't listen, but still make fun of me. Gosh, why do they do this?', the brown eyed girl thought, not understanding children's cruelty. Academy started only one month ago but she still had not befriended anyone, most tries failed soon and the others did not end much better. Some acquaintances were the result, not friends she hoped for, to ease the solitude she was so adjusted to.

When she saw a few bubbles flying towards her, she followed them, amazed by their colours. The origin a boy sitting on a rock creating these fragile orbs, wearing a high collared jacket and sunglasses. When he blew another round, he saw her, a girl with brown hair in two buns, a dark red shirt and a cute amazed look on her face. She saw him, remembering about having heard about those people but she was not afraid. Steeping towards him, she was certain, that this boy was harmless and felt lonely enough. "Hey there, how do you make those?", she called out to the pale boy.

"Hello. My name is Shino. May I asked you what is your name?", a controlled voice politely asked. He blew another round and waited for her answer. "Tenten", was the answer he got as she sat down beside him and looked at him with big eyes, "now show me how you do this, please?"

An ever so slight blush covered Shino's cheeks, rendered speechless he looked down at the bottle and applied the liquid in it once more onto the looped wire. He had problems to remain calm as no female outside his clan came this close to him. Focussing he blew the demonstrating round of bubbles, then handed them over for her to try. Tenten took them and her hands brushed over his cool and slender ones. Blowing bubbles was easy, but she enjoyed the sight; lapsing into a comfortable silence. A few minutes later they started to talk about theirselves, relaxing as they saw the sun began to set. When Tenten started to throw some of her weapons at the bubbles as a practice, Shino had the idea to put strings at the end to recollect them easier when they started working at the aspiring weapon mistress' homework.

They learnt a lot about each other, both understood each other's lonliness, found consolation in being accepted by each other without conditions, felt at ease and really enjoyed their time together, as odd as it has been at some moments.

Just like bubbles this free afternoon was wonderful yet it had to end sometime, so when Tenten started to leave, the rather shy Shino hold her back; not wanting to let go of a friend who accepted him right away and he liked so dear after such a short time. There was just a lot of moments he wanted remember, knowing they just happened once in his life. Now he wanted to add one more thing, on impulse he gave Tenten a peck on her left cheek. Shino really liked her, it was wonderful; but now he felt guilty despite his feelings towards her, he wanted to start to apologize fearing that he had done something wrong. Looking up he saw a serene profile of Tenten's face, illuminated by the rays of the almost red sun, a little blush covering her adorable face. The brown eyes girl thought, it felt somehow like one of those bubbles settling on her skin, the colours of it shinning in her vision and was far to quickly gone. No one has ever kissed her, being an orphan and no one showing her affection caused her feeling unloved, albeit her attitude to never back down and show them her vulnerable inside. And now she was sitting next to a boy who knew solitude in the village like her, had a good time and even got her first kiss. Confused was the only way to describe her inner trumoil, they just met today but she felt so secure with him, totally at ease. Looking into each others faces, they saw themselves turning red, but it wasn't shame; no, they did not knew what to do with these new feelings.

Her spoken words: "Shino, I... like you. I hope we'll meet again soon...", ended his chain of thought about apologizing. He was astonished of having been accepted so fully outside his clan by a female, now just arguing inside whether to pinch himself or not, to confirm this was no dream or keep on dreaming just a little longer. The shock of feeling her lips against his would have woken him up anyway, only to have her pulling away, about the time an intact bubbles has contact with skin. It is just a tiny bit of time, but you feel and remember it.

One last squezze of her hand covering his, she stood up. Waving as she said goodbye, Shino knew on some level, that he does not have to voice his feelings towards her. "It is always easier to act than to speak. Words could be misinterpreted, sentences not structured well enough; but some actions can not be missunderstood. You must really like her to fight for her heart with all you have got.", a somehow amused Shibi said as he entered the clearing. Shino's father had seen enough to draw his own conclusions, but said nothing more. A still blushing Shino gathered up his belongings and jumped of the rock to walk home with his father. After a few minutes the younger Aburame tucked the coat of his father to get attention. His question was simple but had an ulterior reason: "Can you teach me how to command fireflies?"


	2. A swarm of guiding lights

Author's note: I do not own anything about Naruto. This chapter is expanding the original oneshot and set ten years later, after the mission with Utakata and before the war, during the time of rebuilding Konoha. Shino is 16 years old, Tenten 17.

One could really enjoy these days, after a day of working a good sweat, people gathered around bonfires and shared stories, a laugh or food. A wonderful camping scene if there wouldn't be the gigant crater replacing Konoha and those ruins. But the will to share the little they had was really heart warming, a relationship among the village still strong in these hard times. Tenten sat around a fire with Sakura, Ino, Choji and Shikamaru. As soon as they started to talk about their missions, Choji had to be watched. Or he would eat all of their food. The Akimichi was still worried about his father, remaining the silent eater. After Ino finished her story about a handsome guy they met during a mission, Sakura started hers. It just happened recently that she, Naruto, Sai and Yamato carried out this mission. Tenten stopt listening at the moment the pink haired girl told her friends about a strong shinobi they met, a guy named Utakata. The word 'bubbles' triggered a long lost and dear memory, a wonderful afternoon she had, ten years ago. Like a bottle with a lemonade inside opened after shaking, the memories flooded all back into her inner vision again. Her brown eyes looked into the forest, losing herself into the memory.

A memory of a silent and polite boy she liked so dearly years ago, spending time together and sharing many wonderful moments of their childhood. Well, just until she began to make friends at the academy and Shino was also very busy learning the lessons at the academy as well as the lessons about his clan jutsu. Somehow they lost contact, unfortunally that is the way life goes. Now she was ashamed that her first kiss was as a little child was forgotten by her, hard training took it's toll. But Shino would not forget, that was not like him; yet he held no grudge against her. Naruto was not so lucky...

Hope glimmed inside Tenten as she set out to search for Shino, they others would not miss her. Shikamaru and Choji took a walk to visit their fathers and the rivaling girls broke into a fight. Albeit Shino in his attire would be hard to find as the sun had already set. Somehow she found herself in the forest as fireflies started to dance around her. A smile long lost to the googled watcher formed on her lips.

Shino enjoyed this sight, one of the last things he showed her one or two tricks he could do with the fireflies. She liked this back then, his subtle ways to impress her. Nothing big nor loud exclamations Tenten knew by now more than she would liked to. The sight now was not compareable to back then, there were dozens of them dancing in complicated patterns. One group formed a dance imitating her moves when she used one scroll in her genin days, others danced around her head and the last few led her on a way towards the clearing of their first meeting. Shino was sitting once more on the rock, crouched and his glasses beamed.

"I always hoped you would like it. Why did I do that? Well, otherwise the training would have been wasted. It was a nice concentration practice though, and useful at some times.", a deep and even, yet cold voice owned by Shino said. These words made Tenten wince, they never spent much time together after then; but it was not only her mistake. Given, they worked perfectly well together at defusing the laid bombs all over Konoha, missions tore them apart afterwards.

'Thanks to the so-called "personnel shortage", more like "shortage of personal time"; damn it, those times had been hard to all of them.', as soon as this thought shot through her head, she knew that Shino was well aware of all these circumstances killing their contact. She never made a move to revive it; but Shino, well, given his still silent and shy personality, left her the space to develop into a great kunoichi, her dream.

As she walked up to him, following the path the fireflies enlighted, Shino could not help but still feeling endeared by her. All these years he had watched her, admiring her and his crush developed into a feeling called love. With the upcoming events he made up his mind, that death was now so much more possible than anytime before. He needed to tell her what he saw in her, what he felt all these years. Sometimes he thought she remembered, never judging him nor flinching away from him. This was the time to confess, maybe the last chance he would ever get. He had seen the look on her face at the bonfire, she had finally remembered.

"Shino, I'm so sorry. I don't know what to say to make that up. Look, we were so young back then, and the academy takes up a lot of time. And then you had your clan training, and...", Tenten rambeled on and on while sitting next to him till he signaled her to stop.

"I know what happened, it was to be expected and unfortunate. No need to apologize, not you. Why? Simply, yet special...", his voice said, carring more emotion in it than the brown haired girl had ever heard. Now she knew for certain that there was more behing this. After Shino had sent the fireflies away, he took off his glasses and faced Tenten. He knew she could not see his eyes, but she appreciated the gesture as sign of honesty and trust.

"As you know, I am not good at talking about feelings. It may just sound like stating a fact, but a fact is nothing more than a truth. I could never be angry at you, even though you had forgotten a lot for so long. You and me, we both know how it is to be left out again and again. So I know how bad you must feel, but I hope this is not the only feeling you are experiencing right now...", Shino said facing Tenten, who was a little upset still not knowing his eye colour but thought he had blinked. It was an awkward way to confess, if she had understood him right. Grasping his left hand, she smiled at him. This was so unromantic for a confession, but still just his subtle way without even saying it.

"Shino, I said this once and I say it now again; I like you, really like you. And this time I swear, we will meet again soon, not another ten years. I was the one who confessed back then and now I did it again. Look, we should get to know each other better, again.", her answer was the one the young Aburame had hoped for. While their lower legs hung down, Shino used both of his arms to push Tenten down gently into laying flat on the rock. Laying side by side, they enjoyed the stars up above.

"How about this a first date?", Shino asked, holding Tenten close to him with his left arm around her neck. The twin bunned girl scooted a little closer at the bug user, placing her head on his shoulder. He let the fireflies dance random patterns above them.

A playful slap of her gloved left hand on his chest was her answer as she said, "dummy, we already had our first one. This is reviving it somehow, isn't it?"

Shino kissed her head, savouring her silk-like hair and her smell. "Yes, you are right. Yet it is different. How about I treat you dinner tomorrow? There might haven been a lot of restaurants broken down recently, but I know a nice place for Chinese food."

"Hmm, sounds great. Tomorrow, here again after work, and please keep it a secret from Gai and Lee. We would never hear the end of a speech about youth, I bet.", Tenten said. Up till now Shino had never indicated a hint of humour, but she was about getting to know him in a way no one else did. Apperently he knew a few things more about her than she expected, but that didn't matter to her. Things were about to change between them.

Just having finally a moment of peace with the boy from her childhood days who made her feel accepted, loved and at ease all at once; a rainbow of feelings in a moment soon to be destroyed.


	3. Letting bubbles fly

Author's note: I do not own anything concerning Naruto. We are skipping another ten years, Shino and Tenten married eight years ago and had two sons, Shin (aged 6) and Ryo (aged 4).

'Another ten years gone by in the blink of an eye..., I can't believe that.'

"There is no believing, it happened, and you know it; know it damn well", Tenten tries to sooth her thoughts. Thankfully their family picnic was already over, she had been caught up in memories at this clearing in the forest while packing in the last remains of their dishes into a bag. The boys had dragged Shino along to show him a few insects, well more their elder son Shin. He will be entering academy soon and always liked his father's jutsus. Their first son turned out to be just like his father, though a little bit more social. The smaller boy trailing behind them, Ryo, their second son, is more like his mother with his brown hair and his carefree, active and running wild attitude, albeit he has a hive inside him.

They stand close the edge of the forest and study some insects her husband has summomed. She loves seeing her boys together, later Tenten would practise with her sons at weapon throwing. Smirking she knew, that Ryo would try hard to improve his targeting skill and Shin would use his bugs to make it easier to pull them out of the wood again.

The boys, her boys, are finally coming back to her at the rock, Ryo running ahead while the older one looked like a miniature version of his father yet not so pale. Marrying was just a matter of time, their dates had been wonderful and they both enhanced each other. Shino offers her acceptance, reason, secrurity, structure and a home; a lot of things she has hoped for, her silent husband always has patience with her and is her anchor. Tenten is just like a fresh brezze, pulling Shino along to parties, gatherings and evenings out in town though he still keeps on being silent, he is a little bit more outgoing. No pouting and no big eyes could get him into a dancing club, though but he surprised everyone as he started to dance with her on the street when one of her favourite songs was played by a street band.

Thankfully Akamaru could stop Hinata's fall, she had lost her consciousness at this special sight while even Neji gaped. Kiba could not help but feel shocked and amazed at the same time. Thankfully Lee was not there, but Shikamaru got draged at their side by his girlfriend Temari. If Shino would dance to live music on the streets, no one could escape dancing next to him with "troublesome" or being lazy. If the Aburame took the affort, then every other guy in a relationship has to show his love by doing something totally out of character.

She knows he loves her deeply and likes this game of her tries to get him joining something she enjoys and he usually does not; always entertaining and rewarding. Thanks to her Shino acts a little more like a normal guy during these events, but his eyes, the full sight of his sharp edged face is only for their family. It makes her feel special, Tenten being the only one of their friends knowing exactly how he looks like.

Her younger son tugs at her clothes before he asks if he could play with the Inuzuka kids. Their noise could be heard already. Tenten allows it, though she doubts that the boy would be home on time and that his clothes would remain clean.

'Well, on the other hand, he has got that many friends at his age. And he will sleep fine, that will be good enough...', the mother soothed herself. Getting the energetic Aburame to bed was hard sometimes, she blames Lee's son for that though. Her former sensei and her 'youthful' teammate never had been a hinderance in their relationship since Shino spoke with them alone. They both refused to speak about it, but his reputation of being a well-mannered guy, her happiness and a rambling of a drunk Lee concerning moths and spandexes spoke for themselves.

Shino already knew what his sons were up to, he even had informed Kiba already, that Ryo would like to spend the afternoon with them. At dinnertime Kiba would drop his son off at the Aburame household. His older son on the other hand seems like he wants to slip back into the village, to the house of a certain lazy genius. There would be a girl of his age waiting for him with black hair, sea green eyes and two ponytails to play Shogi. With Shikamaru gone for work, Temari visiting her brothers back in Sunagakure and her younger brother staying with his Akimichi friend for the day, Shikara likes the visits of her friend even more. They could play anyway they liked. Guessing from the signs Shin gives off, they played with some rules not included in the rulebock sometimes.

Waving goodbye the brothers runs off, leaving their parents alone. On their way back to their home, Shino was silent at first. Shin had told him about his crush when Shino confronted him with it, but Tenten was yet oblivious. Today Shino got him to let his father tell his mother about it. "You know, Shin does not like playing games that much. Why? They are mainly a way to waste time."

"Yes, I know. But what is that now about?", Tenten asks, knowing she would have to or die out of curiosity. It is indeed a bit unusual for her focussed firstborn to "waste" so much time, every other day he would leave for the Nara's.

"What is the best yet most time consuming 'waste of time', as he likes to phrase it?"

Both of Tenten's eyebrowns shoot up in disbelief. 'No, their always so serious Shin isn't in love, is he?', she thinks astonished. He hadn't changed in his behaviour, yet Tenten still overlooks those changes because she learnt to read the Aburame late in her life. Even so Shino knows, has talked about it with his eldest son and his wife is the next in the line to be told. Whether she would be amazed of her secluded son already having someone liking so dearly or having this kept a secret from her, he does not know; despite all these years of their relationship she still surprised him more often than he expects.

"Oh, didn't that coming. Hell, I didn't notice anything about them. Okay, he really hangs out with her a lot, but playing games that way, not to mention Shikara's mother? I mean, facing Temari is not to be taken on the light shoulder. Playing Shogi is a bonus when dealing with the Nara, alright. And our son is well mannered. Anyway, we'll have some time of our own now. Got any good ideas?", Tenten teases her husband, taking the news rather lightly. There is wonderful time ahead of them as a couple, the house for them alone for a few hours. Like back then when they had been younger and hoping for these chances. Their smirks showing the memories of those times, during their first months of dating.

Shino looks after his already sleeping sons, Shin being on time as always but Ryo was fast asleep after returning dirty and later than the appionted time, as usual. He loves the way his life turned out to be, 'married to the girl he met so long ago and still loving each other passionatly as well as having two sons who made him smile. It might have taken a while but now he has a home on his own with his own family. Just where is his beloved wife now?'

A few minutes later he found her, sitting on the roof outside their bedroom's window, one of her favourite spots. Grabbing a blanket and gathering some fireflies before getting outside to join her, he sees her smiling at him. Sitting down behind his twin bunned woman, Shino hugs her. Together they looked at the stars, once more enjoying simply being together in the moment. Planting a kiss on her right cheek, he tells her once more that he loves her.

"Hey honey, this evening you confessed first...", Shino just frowns at this statement, she already told him more than once after sun set that she loves him. But he just waits for her to keep on talking. Soon enough she has the bottle and the looped wire in her hands, beaming at him. "Let's blow some bubbles, you know I like them."

"Yes, one of your advantages of having young children is being able to play with their stuff. Either to play with them during daytime or in the evening with me or alone..."

A playful jab was recieved for this statement, but Shino ignores it. "You know I love this side of you, Tenten. I am the more serious one of us, so 'goofing off', as you phrase it, is unusual for me. Though you know that I will gladly join you at many times, because you like it."

Granting her husband her most endearing smile illuminated in the twilight of the fireflies, she dips the wire into the bottle. Pressing her lips together, she breathes out slowly to create a lot of small bubbles. There is a swarm of bubbles, flying with some fireflies into the starlight skies as Shino put the blanket around them. This allows them to stay longer outside, enjoying their closeness.

And as the night came, when everything was quiet inside the Aburame's house, each of them had a smile on their face when they enjoyed dreaming after a day having spent with the persons they hold so dear.


End file.
